On Wednesday, a hateful, pitiful, corrupt shell of a man proclaimed that transgender people are a burden. He proclaimed, in the most flippant form possible, that to allow transgender people into the military would create financial strain on the US government. Once again, this man failed to see the humanity in other people. He failed to consider the burden of his own callous, disgusting words and actions.

As if effectively banning transgender people from the US military won’t create an undue mental and emotional burden for those citizens who are affected. As if that mental and emotional burden won’t end up hurting the country more than an inclusive policy would. As if this statement won’t add to the waves of depression that have been hitting those who are the most disenfranchised. Being transgender should not mean that one’s rights as a citizen are revoked. Being transgender should not mean one’s rights as a human being are revoked.

The true burden on this country is the lack of diversity within the highest echelons of government and leadership. Diversity needs to be celebrated. It needs to be cherished. It needs to be seen as important. Being around a diverse group of people fosters tolerance. Being around a diverse group of people opens up important opportunities: opportunities for new experiences, for new understandings of oneself and of others, and for new relationships. Opportunities for growth. Transgender lives matter. Transgender people are PEOPLE. A government that denies anyone’s humanity, that denies that equality that should exist for ALL human beings, is a government that needs to be kicked out.

It’s summer! Which means it’s time to lounge on the beach, plan some getaways, and get really sweaty. (I sweat so, so much in warm weather. . . .) Summer is also when lots of sales start popping up. The thing is, I’m on a mission to be a more environmentally friendly and ethical consumer. And that means buying less, and buying smarter. But I also like a good sale. What am I to do?

Well, here is my shopping plan:

Make a list of things that I need. Then make a list of things that I have been wanting for over a year. Make it clear to myself what is “necessary” and what is a “want.”

If there is a sale that might satisfy something in one of those categories, I will take a look at the sale.

If I find the right item, I will put it in my shopping cart and consider it. The first question I will ask myself is: Was this item made in an ethical manner, with eco-friendly materials? If not, will buying this item at least help me be more environmentally conscientious in my daily life? If the answer is “no” to both questions, then the item won’t be bought!

If I can answer “yes” to at least one of the above, then I will consider which category the item falls into. If it falls into the “need” category, I will ask myself: Do I really need it? Or can I live without it? Might it be possible to substitute something I already own for it?

If it falls into the “want” category, I will ask myself: Will I enjoy this item if I buy it? Or will it fall into a forgotten corner of my closet or apartment after the novelty fades away? Is it possible for me to make this item myself?

If I still believe the item in my shopping cart is a worthwhile purchase, I’ll buy it!

I’m hoping that my shopping plan will reduce any unnecessary spending on my own part. I also hope that the above shopping plan also helps me reduce the number of new items on my want list (because, frankly, whenever I look at a sale I always add something new to my “want” list).

Anyone else have a shopping plan that helps you reduce spending and shop in a more ethical manner?

By the way, if you’re curious what sales I’m looking at right now, here’s the roster:

About the brand: Ecofriendly home goods. Not every item has a detailed description of its materials and manufacturing policies, but on each product page you can post questions to the company about their products.

Beacon’s Closet: No sale, but I love looking at what’s new in the online shop.

About the brand: A well-curated resale store, stocking lots of vintage and designer goods for affordable prices.

M. and I attended a wedding a few weeks ago. I was hoping to sew a new dress for the occasion, but with my gigantic workload, I failed to put one together in time. So, as usual, a thrift store was my savior. I popped over to one of my favorite thrift stores in the city, Monarch Thrift Shop, and came out with a leopard print number that fit all of my requirements: (1) has pockets!, (2) is flattering, and (3) is machine washable.

Because I am an overachiever and like to try to DIY everything, I crocheted myself a flower necklace to pair with the dress. I used this pattern, but I definitely made a mistake because, as you can see, my flowers do not look like the ones in the pattern photo:

Full-length bathroom mirrors are a blogger’s best friend.

While I was at Monarch Thrift Shop, I managed to find some vintage Givenchy clip-ons there for $4.00! I also wore those to the wedding.

Unfortunately, the clip-ons turned out to be too loose in the hinges; one of them fell off while I was dancing during the wedding reception. I managed to find the one that fell, but I definitely don’t think I should wear these anymore if I’m going to be moving around a lot.

I’m visiting from the seventies. I was all ready to go out for a night on the town when some force pulled me into this weird future. I met the 2017 version of myself, who told me that I’m not actually going to go out and have fun tonight because we have a gigantic freelance project to do. She was very mean and gave me a lecture about the importance of hard work. Then she shoved a giant stack of papers in my hands, said “good luck,” and ran out the door.

I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses, so I could maintain my cool-girl look while tears rolled down my cheeks at the thought of doing work on a Saturday night.

In all seriousness, I actually do have a lot of work to do. It’s all my fault, really. I wanted to have some extra pocket money (especially since I have a major and expensive dental procedure coming up) so I took on a gig editing a two-hundred-page manuscript. Of course, as soon as I started working on it, I realized how much I hate not having free time. Especially since I’m the type of person who overexhausts herself on everything. Walk up to me on any given day and ask me what I’ve been up to, and I’ll tell you how I’ve been working on five different personal projects in the past three hours. (This may sound like a “humble brag,” but I am actually telling you about a huge flaw of mine, because I never actually finish any of my personal projects on account of my having so many things in my queue.)

I decided I would go work in a coffee shop today, and to cheer myself up I put together a fun outfit. Lo and behold, working in a coffee shop by yourself can be frustrating, because every time you need to go pee you need to pack up and bring all of your stuff with you (I don’t want to risk losing my laptop…). So I decided to try working at home. Now I’m sitting in the kitchen distracting myself by writing a blog post. Sigh.

This is the brooch I wore on my denim jacket today:

Right now I feel like that person hanging from the rope.

Psst, I got the brooch at a thrift store in Hyde Park. For $3. I love thrift stores. They’re a great place to source unique fashion, and you’re helping keep these items out of the landfill (although not all thrift stores are alike in terms of how they handle unwanted donations, so do your research!).

I actually stopped in a thrift store on my way from the coffee shop (yet another example of how I have procrastinated today) and managed to snap some grainy full-length photos of my outfit:

My usual photographer (M.) is out of town this weekend, hence all of the selfies.

I’ve joined the black hole that is Instagram (psst, I’m @misplacedpen). There’s no denying it, social media is addictive, and I may be addicted. From the first few days of using it, my takeaways are that:

I love how easy it is for me to see snapshots of what sustainable-fashion and zero-waste bloggers are doing to treat the earth better, and

I hate how easy it is to lose two hours admiring what said bloggers are doing to treat the earth better. (Not to mention the time spent admiring new offers from sustainable brands. . .)

I’ve been uploading my own snapshots too, including my outfit from this past weekend:

Hello hello, that’s me, laughing at how addicted to Instagram I’ve become in the space of a week.

This outfit was also my entry into Beacon’s Closet’s #beaconsturns20 giveaway! (Follow the link for details on how you can enter; the giveaway runs through the end of May and the basic requirements are that you have an item bought from Beacon’s and you have an Instagram account.) Beacon’s is a well-curated vintage & resale store (as I’ve probably mentioned many times before. . . . Can you tell I like them?), and they have an online shop! I spend way too much of my free time checking out their online offerings.

Anyways, if you’re curious what else I’m up to outside of this blog, find me (@misplacedpen) on Instagram and say hi! Maybe even follow me. 😉 I have a couple of detailed shots of my accessories up on there, and a nice photo of my roommate’s cat. Mreow.

I’ve also updated this blog with an Instagram button to the right that you can click on to be directly linked to my profile (if you open up any one of my blog pages or posts, you’ll see a right-hand sidebar full of things to click on). I’m currently extremely overwhelmed with work and life, so I haven’t had the time to figure out how to import the photos from my Instagram feed into this website. I’ll get to it soon, fingers crossed!

I’ve been wearing a lot of black lately. Am I mourning my transition into the mid- to late-twenties? the state of the world? tragedies in my personal life? Am I trying to maintain a stereotypical New-Yorker image because I want to play up a part of my identity that I fear I am losing? Am I becoming my mother, who went through an all-black-clothing phase that lasted for at least a decade of my life? 😮

Either way, all-black outfits have begun to feel a lot more natural for me. Besides any psychological purpose that they may serve for me, starting off with a mostly black clothing base allows me to amp up my accessory game. I feel like I have a lot more leeway to play around and showcase unique patterns and shapes in what I wear to accessorize.

This is especially important because I have a huge weakness for unique socks—in the last year of my journey to become a more ethical consumer, my only failing so far has been in the sock department. I had bought a pair of amazing (but not explicitly ethically-sourced. . . ) mushroom-patterned socks a couple of months ago. Not only are they patterned with spore-releasing shrooms, but they also glow under UV light! When I bought them, I was super excited to wear them, but then they sat in my sock drawer for days, then weeks, then months. I kept pulling them out, ready to wear them, then worrying that they would clash too much with the rest of my outfit and putting them away again. I started feeling guilty about having paid for a thing that didn’t quite fit into my shopping ethics and then not using the item at all.

A few weeks ago, as I was assembling an all-black outfit for a dinner with M., I realized that the mushroom socks would add just enough flair to my look to prevent it from being too monotone. The result is the below ensemble:It’s been a while since I’ve worn an outfit that I would describe as “fun,” and for me, this outfit was fun (M. called it “spunky”). I had a great night out, and I feel a little more confident about wearing my mushroom socks!

But, after having so many mixed feelings about the purchase of these socks, I think I’m ready to reduce my sock habit. I’ve already made so many changes to my other consumption habits; why can’t I change my sock shopping too? Maybe I’ll even stop buying socks I don’t need . . . Sigh. I think it’s time I start decluttering my closet and donating or repurposing items that have been languishing in there for ages.

In recent years, our planet has received a whole lot of hate. Even with all of the scientific research that tells us we are in the middle of a climate crisis, giant corporations continue to drill for air-polluting fossil fuels, mills continue to dump toxic chemicals into sources of drinking water, and the meat industry continues to factory farm.

Well, Saturday is Earth Day, and I think we need to show this green planet some love. So this Earth Day, I’m going to:

2. Compost.

When organic materials (like garden trimmings and food waste) end up in landfills, they create loads of methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is often considered a bigger culprit than carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming. One way to keep organic matter out of landfills is to compost. Composting is a process that takes food waste and other organic material and converts it into a rich soil that can be literally given back to the Earth. A few weeks ago, I signed up for a zero emissions composting service in Chicago called WasteNot. They provide you with a (lidded) bucket for your organic materials. You fill up the bucket with food scraps, pieces of your greasy pizza box, etc., and it gets picked up every week or every other week (depending on which payment plan you opt for). Ever since I’ve had the bucket, I’ve really paid attention to how many organic materials I toss into the landfill, from the paper towels I use to clean a dirty table to the trimmings off of the bok choy I cooked for dinner. Thinking about how much organic material I’ve thrown away over the course of my life scares and shames me because I know how much all of that has contributed to the current state of our planet. I hope composting will be a free (or government-supported), nationwide service one day. For now, I’m happy to pay for the services myself and return some nutrients to the earth!

3. Bring my own takeout container.

Sometimes I just don’t want to cook. But takeout can get really wasteful. Not only are you given loads of plastic utensils, your food also comes in a plastic or cardboard container that often isn’t recyclable or compostable (many cardboard food containers aren’t compostable because they have a thin coating of plastic on the interior, and most recycling facilities don’t accept number 6 plastic, which is what styrofoam takeout containers are made of). So I’m trying to bring a small glass container with me whenever I go out to eat. If I have leftovers, I don’t need to ask for a takeout box. I can just pack it in my reusable container and feel good that I haven’t added more plastic to the landfills.

4. Participate in local efforts to clean up the environment.

On Saturday afternoon, I’ll be joining the Chicago chapter of the Sierra Club for one of their annual beach clean ups. I’m excited to help clear away debris from the shoreline, because the less manmade debris that lands in the ocean, the healthier the marine ecosystem will be.

5. Shop smarter.

Nowadays, manufacturing is concerned with quantity more than quality. The idea is that the cheaper an item is, the more people will buy it, and it doesn’t matter if that item falls apart and ends up in a landfill a few weeks later. This model is clearly not sustainable. One way to avoid contributing to this trend of quantity over quality is to buy less, and buy items that are built to last. Another way is to buy secondhand. Much of my furniture is vintage or secondhand. Much of my clothing is too. Buying secondhand saves items from entering the landfill, and, because the items being sold secondhand have clearly lasted long enough to be sold again, there is some assurance of quality over time.

(Pst, Buffalo Exchange, a consignment store that has chains all over the United States, is having a $1 sale on Earth Day! So head over to your local shop and buy some gently used, fashionable clothing. The proceeds will go to the Humane Society and you get to keep some pounds of clothing out of the trash.)

Your turn: let me know what you’re doing to show the Earth some love! 🙂 🌏

❤ S. (a.k.a. AMisplacedPen)

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way to write about any organizations or businesses that I have mentioned. This post expresses my honest opinions.

Recently, my younger brother and his girlfriend came to Chicago for a short trip. I was tasked with planning an entire day of sightseeing. I had a lot of thoughts about where we would dine and drink, but when it came to activities between said eating and drinking, I was stumped. Then I remembered the Garfield Park Conservatory. I had never been there, so this was a chance for myself to explore as well.

And what a wonderfully green place the conservatory is!

Located in East Garfield Park, the conservatory is essentially a gigantic greenhouse. A gigantic greenhouse with impeccably landscaped rooms and so many different plants! Though it isn’t as large and grand as New York’s various botanical gardens, its price can’t be beat because a visit to the conservatory is free! My brother, his girlfriend, M., and I had fun exploring the various landscapes and marveling at the gigantic palm tree in the first room.

A tip: Dress lightly, or wear layers that can be easily removed. Many of the rooms are temperature-controlled to keep the plants happy, and those temperatures tend toward the warmer end of the thermostat.

For example, the cactus room was very, very dry and very hot.

I was baring a little midriff that day, a style choice that turned out to be surprisingly practical.

Time to get serious. Plants are serious business.

While I was impressively sweaty by the end of our exploration through the maze of rooms, my abdomen had a little window for the breeze to sweep by and wick away some of my perspiration. 😉

The shirt I’m wearing is the result of a DIY project—I took an old black button-up that was both too long and too outdated looking (there was strange pleating and ruching going on), and chopped off the bottom half. I then bound the new hem with black bias tape to keep it from unraveling. Easy-peasy!

I also painted eyes on the tips of the shirt collar, using silver fabric paint. Because I like people to know I’m watching them. With my collar eyes.

This is the best image I have of the collar eyes. (It was selfie time for M. and I, don’t judge. :P)

After dealing with the persistent stressors of my work life and of current events, I was glad to briefly escape to this beautiful attraction. Being surrounded by so much flora is extremely soothing, and reminds me that I need to do some more outdoor exploration!

It’s a short post today! I wanted to show off my “new” fringed jeans. I spent over a week on these babies, patiently fraying them with a seam ripper while I watched TV shows or listened to podcasts. Then I cut a rectangle out of the left knee area, because why not? The more loose threads, the merrier.

This is probably the best photo I have of how fringey the fringe is (please ignore the mess that is my room):

Friiiiiinge!

These jeans used to be a pair of bootcut jeans from a store that I will not name, as I had bought them many years before I decided to become an ethical consumer. I’ve owned this pair for at least five years now, and I’ve probably worn it less than twenty times. I didn’t like the way the jeans looked on me because they were a little too long and bootcut. To be honest, I had bought them because they were on super sale. But they’re also made of high-quality denim and it seemed like a shame to give them up.

Then I came across Honestly WTF’s DIY tutorial for fraying jeans. She beautifully documents every step of the process. I followed her tutorial fairly faithfully, although, when I was finished, I did use my sewing machine to run a small zig-zag stitch over the unfrayed portion of the hem to ensure that it wouldn’t keep fraying after I put the jeans in the wash.

I stopped the fringe right around my ankles; that way, if I get tired of the fringe, I can lop it off and turn the jeans into an ankle-length pair! I want to make sure that this item of clothing can have a long life in my closet, because reusing what you have is the most sustainable way to consume fashion.

I’m itching to try these jeans out with a pair of heels! The styling possibilities are pretty exciting, and I’ll get to feel fringey goodness swishing around my feet. That’ll have to wait until warmer weather though!

After the US election results were announced, I decided to become a part-time vegetarian* (in other words, I’m committed to being meat-free for two-thirds of my meals every week!). It’s clear that the current US president and his administration don’t care about curbing climate change, even though the Earth and humanity are at an important turning point. Part-time vegetarianism seemed like a simple way for me to fight back against the wasteful and delusional tendencies of the current government: research shows that eating less meat can help curb catastrophic climate change! How? Wastes from the meat industry pollute waterways and release a lot of methane into the atmosphere; methane is a greenhouse gas, so the more methane that is released into the atmosphere, the more heat is trapped on the Earth’s surface. Additionally, livestock require a lot of grain and water for sustenance, so the more livestock there are, the less water there is to quench the thirst of human and irrigate gas-trapping plants. If each one of us reduces our individual levels of meat consumption, there will be less demand for meat, which means less raising of livestock, which means less methane-producing fecal matter from livestock, less global warming, and more available water.

M. has embraced the part-time vegetarianism diet too. So, recently, M. and I went to the Chicago Diner for a lunch date. The Chicago Diner is a highly praised vegan and vegetarianism restaurant in Chicago, and we wanted to see if the hype was well-founded.

I was in the mood for something fried (because I lack self-control) so I ordered a crispy spicy chicken sandwich:

It was delicious! The “chicken” patty was crisp and flavorful, with a breading that was much spicier than I had expected. I love spicy food, and whenever I order a spicy sandwich, I’m usually disappointed by how little heat there is. Chicago Diner got it right. I really wanted to try Chicago Diner’s vegan shakes too, but by the time M. and I were done with our entrees, we didn’t have room for dessert.

To go with my environmentally friendly meal, I wore an environmentally and ethically conscientious outfit:

The choker and mock neck top were made in the United States in sweatshop-free conditions. The sleeveless blazer is an oversized, unlined blazer that I bought from the thrift store and then altered by lopping the sleeves off, binding the cut edges with bias tape, and shifting the button a few inches to the left so it would create a slimmer line when buttoned.

And here’s a goofy selfie for ya (oh yeah, I was wearing lipstick at some point that day…):

The lipstick is Metallurgy, from Portland Black Lipstick Company. If you haven’t noticed, I love their lipsticks so much! This one is a shiny olive green color over a black base. I only bought a sample size but now I’m debating getting the full tube…

If you’re wondering why I’m so underdressed, considering it’s only March and Chicago is a cooold city, M. and I had our lunch date on a weekend of freakishly warm weather. I think it was in the low seventies (Fahrenheit)! As much as I enjoyed walking around outside without a coat on, those temperatures are a reminder that climate change is real and should not be taken lightly…. More reasons to stick with these new lifestyle choices of mine!

❤ S. (a.k.a. AMisplacedPen)

* I know I could do even more by adopting a 100% vegetarian diet. But I don’t want to give up meat entirely because there’s as much of a cultural component in my meat-eating as there is a taste factor. (For example, a lot of dishes that my Mom would make during my childhood involved animal products. I really want to preserve the food of my cultural heritage, and that would be extremely difficult to do if I become 100% vegetarian. Malaysian food is very seafood based and Cantonese food involves a lot of chicken and pork.) I think part-time vegetarianism is a good compromise, and also a more realistic goal. Most of the human population would probably refuse to give up meat entirely, but not as many would refuse to lessen their meat consumption.